Sony's First Collection Of 4K Ultra HD Content For The Home Now Available For Consumers

Ultra High Definition Video Player - Bundled with Sony's XBR 4K LED TV- to be Demonstrated at Star-Studded Event at the House of Rock

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LOS ANGELES, Nov. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Electronics is unveiling the first step in delivering 4K Ultra HD video content in the home. The new 4K Ultra HD Video Player is a hard-disc server that connects easily to Sony's 84-inch 4K LED TV (XBR-84X900) allowing consumers to view 4K resolution movies and short form 4K videos. Available as a bonus loaned exclusively to U.S. customers purchasing the Sony 4K LED TV, the video player comes loaded with content, including both full length Hollywood features and a gallery of videos, creating the first true home 4K experience.

As a standalone unit, the Sony XBR-84X900 TV already upscales all video inputs, including the more than 7,000 Blu-ray Disc titles currently in distribution, to a near-4K resolution through the use of Sony's proprietary 4K X-Reality PRO three-chip picture engine. Now, with the new video player, consumers can for the first time enjoy true 4K Ultra HD video in the home.

"Sony is a company of firsts, and this introduction of the first 4K technology platform continues that pioneering, innovative spirit," said Phil Molyneux, president and chief operating officer of Sony Electronics. "We were the first to introduce 4K projectors to cinemas in 2005, the first to introduce a 4K projector designed for the home in 2011, and the first to offer a 4K upscaling Blu-ray Disc player earlier this year. Now, we're the first to begin closing the content loop, offering native 4K content for the home and delivering the most immersive, awe-inspiring entertainment experience yet."

Delivering Exclusive 4K Ultra HD Content for the Home

Sony, as a total entertainment company encompassing movies and TV production, music, games and electronics, is uniquely positioned to be first to market in delivering 4K Ultra HD solutions. The 4K Ultra HD Home Experience includes the 84" 4K LED TV, the Video Player, and an Xperia™ Tablet S that serves as a remote control through an easy-to-use app. Pre-loaded onto the Video Player will be the following first ever collection of 10 full-length feature films presented in native 4K for the home:

The Amazing Spiderman
Total Recall (2012)
The Karate Kid (2010)
Salt
Battle Los Angeles
The Other Guys
Bad Teacher
That's My Boy
Taxi Driver
The Bridge on the River Kwai

"Sony Pictures leads the industry in building a library of new releases and restored classics mastered in 4K, so it is both exciting and appropriate that we can provide the first 4K movies that consumers will be able to experience in their homes," said Chris Cookson, president, Sony Pictures Technologies.

In addition to the full length features, the Video Player will come pre-loaded with a gallery of 4K video shorts, including Red Bull Media House's exclusive 4K videos The Athlete Machine: Red Bull Kluge and four acoustic performances of songs from Red Bull Records' Heaven's Basement's new record, "Filthy Empire." Additionally, Sony's 4K Ultra HD delivery solution is designed to be updated with additional 4K titles and video clips. More delivery solutions will continue to evolve rapidly, with further product and content announcements coming shortly.

"Sony is committed to delivering the finest 4K Ultra HD entertainment experiences to customers," added Mike Lucas, senior vice president for Sony Electronics' Home Division. "The launch of the 4K Ultra HD Home Experience is another world first for Sony, and will wow consumers with 4K Ultra HD content. It's a proof point of our leadership in all things 4K, and the first step in creating a full, complete 4K Ultra HD solution for the home."

Red Bull Media House is a global media company that creates compelling sports, culture and lifestyle programming and distributes it across multiple platforms. From film to television, print to digital and games, Red Bull Media House content is optimized for any device or platform. For more information, go to http://www.redbullmediahouse.com.

This sounds good to me in the future we dont need to buy disks to watch movies.

Bring on 4k

Until the hard rive crashes or FW upgrade is needed that accidentally wipes out all the content. That can never happen with a 4K physical bluray disc!

I recently downloaded content from my computer onto a hard drive and now my computer won't read the drive with all the content! I have to reformat it and wipe the entire contents. Also I did a FW upgrade to my itouch and it wiped all content from my 32gb system! I will gladly take a 4K bluray disc thank you!

Until the hard rive crashes or FW upgrade is needed that accidentally wipes out all the content. That can never happen with a 4K physical bluray disc!

I recently downloaded content from my computer onto a hard drive and now my computer won't read the drive with all the content! I have to reformat it and wipe the entire contents. Also I did a FW upgrade to my itouch and it wiped all content from my 32gb system! I will gladly take a 4K bluray disc thank you!

not only that, but there is also storage, 10 films might not be an issue, but just imagine how many TB would be needed for let's say 1k films or 2k films or 3k films. It just becomes ridiculous very fast. The guy with the largest BD collection here has over 4k films.

Until the hard rive crashes or FW upgrade is needed that accidentally wipes out all the content. That can never happen with a 4K physical bluray disc!

I recently downloaded content from my computer onto a hard drive and now my computer won't read the drive with all the content! I have to reformat it and wipe the entire contents. Also I did a FW upgrade to my itouch and it wiped all content from my 32gb system! I will gladly take a 4K bluray disc thank you!

Trust me, you want discs. Those files are going to be 150-350gb a piece not counting 3D when is 300-500gb. Unless you want to keep spending money on more hard drives every so many months- I'd take a disc. Plus Sony firmware could totally brick your system thus you just lost your library. (I've witnessed this on their 4k projectors)
Disc please.

not only that, but there is also storage, 10 films might not be an issue, but just imagine how many TB would be needed for let's say 1k films or 2k films or 3k films. It just becomes ridiculous very fast. The guy with the largest BD collection here has over 4k films.

Wow, when would one ever get the time to watch all those? Also, you would have to watch them all a few times to make owning it worth the investment. So that's about 24,000 hours, 1000 days, or 2 years and 9 months (if you don't stop to take a break, work, sleep, do anything but sit there and watch movie after movie. I would like a 4k system where I can watch it from a disc, rip to to a hard drive without any quality loss, and stream it from the cloud with no quality loss as a convenience feature. Why do we have to pick one or the other, why not have both?

Also, you would have to watch them all a few times to make owning it worth the investment.

why? I have plenty of films that I have only seen once and they were worth the investment. I (and I guess anyone else that buys films) invest in my pleasure.

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Why do we have to pick one or the other, why not have both?

no issue with that, just pointing out that I saw the HDD space required to be a bigger issue than a dead drive. My Nephew was here this Christmas and went back home on the 28'th, he counted my collection (don't know if he did it correctly or not) and came out with 1228, since he left I received 2 packages with a total of 10 movies. If each time I go and buy something I need to run out, buy and install a new HDD it quickly becomes a real nuisance. Now obviously if you are the type of person that never buys anything because you have to know you will " watch them all a few times" before you buy and so you go and rent it and then the next year when you want to watch it again you just rent it again.... and you own 10 or 20 or even 50 movies then it might not be an issue. But then most of your viewing is rental.

As for streaming, I will just put it this way, Christmas eve we were 22 people here at my place, after supper we went down to my HT and watched a couple of films before growing to midnight mass. It would have really sucked badly if I and the rest of the people went down to the HT to watch a film using Netflix just to find out it was down.

I would like a 4k system where I can watch it from a disc, rip to to a hard drive without any quality loss, and stream it from the cloud with no quality loss as a convenience feature. Why do we have to pick one or the other, why not have both?

Rip 200GB to disk and put it "in the cloud"? I'm not sure how long this would take but it doesn't sound like a convenience feature to me

Chevy, we want our discs. It is a tactile thing. At least for me. Nice case, nice cover, that lovely bluray case smell and a place in my piano black cabinets.

That's fine, I am simply saying we can have both. I couldn't care less about collecting cases, I buy movies to watch the movies, but for those who are are into collecting cases, they will be happy too. Just like the way I buy CDs, I rip them uncompressed to my hard drive where they are neatly organized digitally. Except I don't display the CDs for the world to see (under the false impression that others will be impressed), I shove them in a closet and never touch them again. "lovely blu-ray case smell?" Seriously?
Also, as a psych major, I can promise that has nothing to do with why you like discs, otherwise this would fulfill that need http://www.amazon.com/Standard-DOUBL...=blu-ray+cases
Then they could just turn whatever smell you think the plastic gives you into a fragrance

Yes there can be both. How much money are they willing to put into these cloud servers that I will have my movie 10-20 years from now? Also HDD (of large size and affordable pricing) are not relieable. I've had run-in's in both small and large scale with digital content being unreachable, corrupted or erased. It's not a stable bet for the cash, yet. While its neat and streamline its also a gamble. *shrugs*

I couldn't care less about collecting cases, I buy movies to watch the movies

yup and that is the key point for me to watch the movies with streaming you can't necessarily do that, if there is a problem with your internet, if there is a problem with the content provide. Like I said earlier we were more than 20 people on Christmas eve, it would have really sucked if we would have gone down to my HT to watch a film just to find out that Netflix was down.

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Just like the way I buy CDs, I rip them uncompressed to my hard drive where they are neatly organized digitally.

I do the same as well (rip CDs to HDD/ipod). But there is a BIG HUMOUNGOUS difference between CDs and films, a CD contains several songs and is less then 1GB So with a 1TB drive you can easily fit several peoples music collections. On the other hand movies now come on 50GB BDs and some movies (LOTR, Cleopatra......) come on two BDs and this is the 4k thread so it would be normal to assume that we would need at least 2x the data that is needed for BDs now. That means that a dozen films will most likely not fit on a 1TB drive. Like I said before if someone does not buy movies then it is not a big issue but that is not even an average months purchases for me and there have been times when I bought twice that in weekend and for many others (by looking at how my collection would stack up to others) it would be even more exaggerated. And to re-use your statement "I couldn't care less about collecting HDDs (and having to reconfigure my server array), I buy movies to watch the movies. Why does it bug you so much some of us would rather just buy a film and be able to watch it instantaneously instead of taking the time and money to transfer it to an inappropriately small HDD?

I really like the idea of moving forward with Ultra HD, especially with Blu-ray discs and players that can do Ultra HD. Can't wait...hopefully it will take off fast once it begins , without a big fight between competing technologies, which likely is part of the reason why blu-ray took so long to adopt (HD-DVD vs Blu-ray war, for those who remember).